Intro
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- MacOS Big Sur elevates the most advanced desktop operating system in the world to a new level of power and beauty. Experience Mac to the fullest with a refined new design. Enjoy the biggest Safari update ever. Discover new features for Maps and Messages. Get even more transparency around your privacy.
- If your Mac is using an earlier version of any Mac operating system, you should install the latest Apple software updates, which can include important security updates and updates for the apps that are installed by macOS, such as Safari, Books, Messages, Mail, Music, Calendar, and Photos.
- MacOS Big Sur elevates the most advanced desktop operating system in the world to a new level of power and beauty. Experience Mac to the fullest with a refined new design. Enjoy the biggest Safari update ever. Discover new features for Maps and Messages.
If you're new to the Mac, learning and mastering the VoiceOver screenreader can seem daunting at first. In an attempt to streamline the search for essential getting started information across the AppleVis website, I will provide a series of tips, along with links to more comprehensive guides and podcasts, organized by heading and subheading.
From personal experience, I have found that one of the most effective ways to learn a new screenreader is to read documentation with another more familiar one. For example, you could start reading this guide on iOS, Android or Windows, gradually try various things on the Mac, and finally, see how you do relying on VoiceOver in addition to or in place of your other screenreader.
Terminology
The Mac refers to Apple's line of personal computers.
Mac laptops range from the low-end MacBook Air to the high-end MacBook Pro. Mac desktops include the Mac Mini, iMac, iMac Pro, and Mac Pro.
For both laptops and desktops, specific product families are differentiated by features, performance, and price. For information and buying advice on Mac models at any given time, check out the MacRumors Buyer's guide.
MacOS is the operating system that runs on all Macs. It was previously known as OS X, and mac OS X before that. Its major versions, released annually, are named after California landmarks, like Catalina or Mojave. To minimize confusion in this guide, and because VoiceOver doesn't change a whole lot from version to version, I will cover concepts in the latest public release.
The Apple keyboard
As modifier keys on a keyboard can vary greatly, there is no way for me to know your keyboard's precise configuration. For this reason, I will be discussing locations of keys on the standard Apple keyboard, the keyboard that comes built-in on Mac laptops and is included externally with Mac desktops.
At the bottom row from left to right are the Function, Control, Option, and Command keys, followed by the space bar. To the right of the space bar is another Command key, another Option key, and the arrow keys.
On Macs without a Touch Bar, on the top row from left to right is the Escape key, followed by twelve function keys. The Touch Bar is a small strip that holds dynamic touch controls for whatever app is in focus, in lieu of standard function keys. For information on how to use the Touch Bar and the implications for VoiceOver, check out this review of the 2016 MacBook Pro, the first Mac to include this feature. Although the review is several years old, the pertinent information is still accurate.
Setup
First things first, when you first attempt to set up a computer, you need to know how to turn it on.
If you're setting up a laptop, simply opening the lid should cause it to power on, at which point you may hear a chime. If you're setting up a desktop, plug it in and turn on any accessories like a wireless keyboard and mouse, and press the power button, which is typically the only tactile button on the case.
If you have a desktop that came with a wireless keyboard and mouse that are switched on, the computer should automatically recognize them and proceed with the boot process.
Once your Mac has booted for the first time, you will hear a voice that, in English says something like, 'To use English for the main language, press the return key.' As stated, press the return key, the rectangular key above the right Shift key on Apple keyboards, to use English or use the up and down arrow keys to select a different language. After a few seconds, you will be told how to turn on VoiceOver or start the quick start tutorial, which I would recommend if you're new to the Mac.
From there, Setup Assistant guides you through connecting to a Wi-Fi network, signing in with your Apple ID, creating your user account, and configuring various other basic settings. If this is your first Apple product, it might be useful to create a free Apple ID on a device you're more comfortable with prior to setting up your new Mac.
Your Apple ID is the account used to access Apple services and sync your devices. If you've used the iTunes Store, for example, you already have an Apple ID.
If you skip the VoiceOver tutorial, the following tips should help you get on your feet.
General
Like other screenreaders on desktop operating systems, VoiceOver is designed to be operated primarily from the keyboard, with a combination of VoiceOver commands and universal system and app keyboard shortcuts.
VoiceOver commands are denoted by the VoiceOver modifier, which is either the control and option keys or the caps lock key. This is referred to as, 'VO,' for short. Therefore, if you are instructed, for example, to press VO-Space, hold down the control and option keys, or the caps lock key, and press the space bar.
Move around the screen using VO-left and right arrows, and activate, or, 'Click,' items with VO-Space. In some cases, the tab key will take you to certain elements, but this behavior is not totally consistent across the OS.
For some elements, VoiceOver will announce that there are, 'Actions available.' Access the Actions menu with VO-Command-Space, and navigate the menu with the up and down arrow keys. Press VO-Space to select a custom action. Custom actions are featured most prominently in apps ported from iOS and iPadOS.
To jump to the top of a window, useful for reading instructions in the Setup Assistant and other wizards, press VO-Function-Left-Arrow. To jump to the Bottom, press VO-Function-Right-Arrow.
Finally, if you're trying to identify a particular VoiceOver command, either press VO-H twice to access the Commands Help menu, or VO-K to access Keyboard Help, where keys can be pressed without having any effect on the system.
The desktop
The desktop is the first point you're placed after logging in. It is a place where any file can be dumped and by default, is where external storage devices are mounted for quick access. To get to the desktop from anywhere in macOS, press VO-Shift-D.
The menu bar
The menu bar contains useful commands for apps, as well as global tasks like restarting or shutting down. From anywhere in macOS, access the menu bar by pressing VO-M.
You are initially focused on the Apple Menu, located on the left. This menu is always shown, and contains commands that you can access from anywhere. The menu immediately to the right is the name of the current app in focus. For example, if you are working in Mail, the menu to the right of the Apple menu will be named, 'Mail.' The rest of the menus depend on what app you have in focus, but are often file, edit, view, etc. Use the left and right arrow keys to navigate between menus, and the up and down arrow keys to cycle through the available options.
These menus include commands for the app in focus, as well as the commands' respective keyboard shortcuts. This is how the menu bar can become very useful as you gain proficiency on the Mac, as keyboard shortcuts in apps can greatly reduce the steps needed to complete basic tasks.
To exit the menu bar at any time, press the Escape key, or Function Tab if your Mac's keyboard doesn't have one.
In addition to common system and app commands, the menu bar is also used to display status information about your Mac, such as Wi-Fi connection and battery information, accessed by pressing VO-M twice. Navigate the menu headings with VO left or right arrow, and reveal the menu options by pressing VO Space. Press the Escape key, or Function Tab if your Mac's keyboard doesn't have one, to exit a menu.
The menu extras also contains the macOS Control Center, where you can customize a wider variety of basic parameters, similar to how it works on iOS and iPadOS. You can change what's included in this view in System Preferences > Dock & Menu Bar.
The dock
The dock contains apps that you can access quickly from anywhere in macOS. Access the dock by pressing VO-D and navigate between apps using the left and right arrow keys. Open apps using VO-Space.
Additional options for an app can be accessed from the contextual menu by focusing on it and pressing VO-Shift-M, the Mac equivalent of a right-click.
Exit the dock at any time by pressing the Escape key, or Function Tab if your Mac's keyboard doesn't have one.
Interacting
By default, VoiceOver organizes interface elements hierarchically, meaning there can be elements within other elements. This is indicated by a slight pop sound when focusing on such an element.
While this behavior is not totally consistent across the OS, element types that typically require interaction include toolbars, groups, and scroll areas, among others. To interact, press VO-Shift-Down-Arrow. To stop interacting, press VO-Shift-Up-Arrow.
macOS keyboard shortcuts
While VoiceOver includes commands to complete some core tasks, some of the most useful and ubiquitous commands are universal macOS keyboard shortcuts. They vary from app to app, but generally follow a basic format. Below is a list of the most common shortcuts, and you can find a more comprehensive list in this guide.
- new: Command-N
- open: Command-O
- close current window: Command-W
- quit current app: Command-Q
- print: Command-P
- copy: Command-C
- paste: Command-V
- access preferences for the app in focus: Command-Comma
- cycle between open apps: Command-tab
Some immediate post setup tips
Updating your software
Periodically, Apple releases updates to macOS and bundled first-party apps. As updates may have been released since your Mac was packaged at the factory, it is a good idea to check for updates once initial setup is complete.
To do this, choose Apple > System Preferences and click software update. If updates are available, click update now.
Note: you may need to restart your computer to complete installation of some updates.
To update bundled apps, choose Apple > AppStore. Once you've passed any sign-in or welcome dialogs, choose Store > Updates, or press Command-8, to check for updates. Click update all to download and install all updates.
Configuring VoiceOver to start automatically at login
Note: if you prefer an audio demonstration, there is an AppleVis podcast that demonstrates this process.
By default, VoiceOver does not start automatically at the login prompt. To change this, follow these steps.
- Choose Apple > System Preferences and click Users & Groups.
- Hit the, 'Click the lock to make changes,' button near the bottom of the window and enter your password.
- Interact with the, 'Users, groups and login options,' list, and select login options.
- Stop interacting and click accessibility options.
- Interact with the table and select the VoiceOver checkbox.
- Click apply.
If you find that you cannot use standard VoiceOver navigation at the login prompt, you may have FileVault disk encryption turned on. To turn it off and get a more conventional login prompt, follow these steps.
- Open System Preferences and click Security & Privacy.
- Hit the, 'Click the lock to make changes,' button near the bottom of the window and authenticate with either your password, Touch ID, or Apple Watch.
- Select the, 'FileVault,' tab and click turn off FileVault.
Note: when this is turned off, the contents of your disk will be decrypted.
Customizing VoiceOver
VoiceOver settings can be customized using VoiceOver utility, accessed from the Utilities folder or by pressing VO-F8, or VO-Function-8 if you're using a Mac with a Touch Bar.
Settings are grouped into categories like general, verbosity, speech, etc. Go kart go! mac os. Use the up and down arrow keys to find a category in the table and navigate using VO-Right-Arrow to explore the options.
In addition, some VoiceOver settings can be changed by VoiceOver commands from anywhere in macOS. For example, to change speech options, press VO-Command-Shift-left or right arrow to view the available settings, and adjust the values using VO-Command-Shift-up or down arrow. Also, some verbosity settings can be changed by pressing VO-V and using the left and right arrow keys to view the settings, and the up and down arrow keys to adjust their values.
Along with the standard ways of navigating macOS, there are some additional customizations that can improve your workflow.
Quick Nav
You may have noticed, as you press the left and right arrow keys, that VoiceOver announces, 'Quick Nav on,' and, 'Quick Nav off,' which can alter VoiceOver behavior and thus be incredibly frustrating.
Quick Nav allows you to use the arrow keys as if the VoiceOver modifier was held down. For example, a press of the right arrow when not in a textfield is treated like VO-Right-Arrow, and thus moves VoiceOver focus right. You can also use Quick Nav commands to navigate the VoiceOver rotor, discussed later. If you use iOS or iPadOS, these commands will feel very familiar to you.
If you don't use Quick Nav, you can prevent it from being inadvertently toggled from the keyboard by going to VoiceOver Utility > Commanders > Quick Nav and deselecting the, 'Allow toggling of Quick Nav using left and right arrow keys,' checkbox.
Trackpad Commander
If you use iOS or iPadOS, you're probably well accustomed to using touch gestures to navigate with VoiceOver. With Trackpad Commander, many of these gestures can be performed on your laptop's internal trackpad or an Apple Magic Trackpad connected via bluetooth.
To enable Trackpad Commander, hold down the VoiceOver modifier and rotate two fingers clockwise on the trackpad; counterclockwise to disable it. VoiceOver will play a sound and announce when Trackpad Commander has been turned on or off.
From here, flick with one finger left or right to move, double-tap to activate, flick right with two fingers to interact, and flick left with two fingers to stop interacting. These are just a few commands. For a full list, check out this guide.
Additional settings and custom gestures can be configured in VoiceOver Utility > Commanders > Trackpad.
Keyboard Commander
Keyboard Commander allows you to configure custom keyboard shortcuts to perform VoiceOver commands, run scripts, and open apps, eliminating the need to locate them manually and thus greatly streamlining your workflow. Commands can be configured in VoiceOver Utility > Commanders > Keyboard Commander.
By default, commands for opening Mail and Safari and running scripts for announcing the date and time and the number of unread Mail messages are included. For more information, check out this AppleVis podcast.
The rotor
Similar to iOS and iPadOS, the VoiceOver rotor is used on macOS to navigate by different levels of granularity; characters, words, lines, etc. When browsing webpages, the rotor also allows you to navigate by links, headings, tables, and other web element types.
The rotor can be used in several ways, with or without Quick Nav, or with Trackpad Commander.
To adjust the rotor with Quick Nav off, press VO-Command-left or right arrow to move between lists, and VO-Command-up or down arrow to navigate the available items. Pressing VO-U will present a rotor that solely contains web element types like links, headings, and tables, which can be navigated using the arrow keys.
To adjust the rotor with Quick Nav on, press up arrow with the left or right arrow to move between lists, and use up or down arrow to navigate the available items. Activate items by pressing the up and down arrow keys together.
Finally, if you have Trackpad Commander on, rotate two fingers clockwise or counterclockwise to move between lists, and flick up or down with one finger to navigate the available items. Activate items by double-tapping with one finger.
The Finder
Finder is the Mac's file manager, and is constantly open. Think of it as the equivalent of File Explorer on Windows. It is where you create, organize and delete files and folders, view external storage devices, and manage and sync iOS devices. For information on how to use Finder, check out this guide.
Spotlight
Spotlight lets you locate files and other data on your Mac. It is located fourth from right in the menu extras, accessed by pressing VO-M twice. It can also be accessed directly by pressing Command-Space.
Type your search in the field and use the up and down arrow keys to navigate the results. If what you're looking for is not in the list, select, 'Show all,' and a Finder window with all the results will open. Settings like the keyboard shortcut, result categories to include, and locations to exclude can be changed in System Preferences > Spotlight.
Notifications
Similar to other operating systems, macOS uses notifications to signify when something requires your attention. Notifications include texts, emails, calls from your iPhone, alerts from third-party apps, alerts from websites, and more.
Like iOS and iPadOS, there are two types of notifications, banners and alerts; banners only remain on the screen for a few seconds whereas alerts stay on the screen until you act on them. If a banner notification is received, VoiceOver will speak its contents, but retain focus in whatever window you're working in. If an alert is received, VoiceOver will speak its contents and focus on the new notification dialog.
To act on an alert, choose an action from the Actions menu by pressing VO-Command-Space. To access the Notification Center, where all notifications are displayed, press VO-O; or to access a menu of notifications currently onscreen, press VO-N.
If you'd rather certain apps not send notifications, you can turn this capability off on an app-by-app basis in System Preferences > Notifications.
Siri
Like on other Apple platforms, you can use Siri on your Mac to find information and complete basic tasks, such as checking weather, calendar, and contacts, opening apps, searching the web, sending emails and texts, etc. However, Siri on macOS does not currently support any third-party app integration.
Siri can be accessed by pressing and holding Command-Space, or by saying, 'Hey Siri,' on Macs with a T2 security chip or Apple Silicon processor. These Macs include the MacBook Air, (2018 and later) MacBook Pro (2018 and later) Mac Mini, (2018 and later) iMac Pro, (2017) Mac Pro, (2019) and iMac (2020).
Siri settings, like the voice and keyboard shortcut, can be changed in System preferences > Siri. Sunrises pact mac os.
For more information and an audio demonstration, check out this AppleVis podcast.
Word processing
While the purpose of this section is not to cover one app, there are some concepts central to VoiceOver and macOS that can help you get started with basic word processing.
Your Mac comes with two main word processors, TextEdit, a basic document creation tool, and Pages, Apple's answer to Microsoft Word. For information and a demonstration of some of Pages' functions, check out this AppleVis podcast.
The following commands should work in any app used for creating and editing documents.
- move by character: left or right arrow keys, hold down the Shift key to select characters the curser passes
- move by word: Option-left or right arrow keys, hold down the Shift key to select words the curser passes
- move by line: up or down arrow keys, hold down the Shift key to select lines the curser passes
- top of document: Command-Up-Arrow
- bottom of document: Command-Down-Arrow
- check spelling: Command-semicolon
- reveal full spell and grammar check window: Command colon
Tip: any time you're in a textfield, you can dictate text by pressing the Function key twice and speaking after you hear a ding sound. Press the Function key once when you're done, and the text should be inserted. The first time you do this, you'll be asked if you want to use enhanced dictation, which downloads dictation resources locally to your computer, eliminating the need to send recordings to Apple's servers for processing.
Web Browsing
When navigating websites, VoiceOver contains them in groups announced as, 'Web content.' While this is generally associated with web browsing, 'Web content,' groups are also used to display content in Apple Music and results in Dictionary, among other things.
When interacting with these groups, press VO-left and right arrows to move by paragraphs and web elements, or use the rotor for more granular navigation. In addition, the following commands can help you brows by specific element types. For any of these commands, hold down the Shift key while performing the command to find the previous occurrence of that element type.
- find next heading: VO-Command-H
- find next link: VO-Command-L
- find next table: VO-Command-T
- find next list: VO-Command-X
- find next frame: VO-Command-F
For more information on how to use Safari, the Mac's built-in web browser, check out this guide.
Braille
In addition to spoken feedback, VoiceOver on macOS supports a wide variety of refreshable braille displays. Braille displays can be connected to your Mac via USB, or paired and configured via BlueTooth in VoiceOver Utility > Braille.
However, while I am aware of the Mac's support for refreshable braille, I do not own a braille display, so cannot comment on the quality or usability of these features. If you have any questions or problems with braille on macOS, your best bet is to post to the AppleVis forum or a similar group, or to contact Apple or the display's manufacturer for assistance.
General Mac FAQs
The following is a list of frequently asked questions that I've observed many people asking about the Mac platform.
How long should my Mac last?
Generally, a Mac laptop that is well taken care of can continue to function for over four years, with desktops lasting even longer since they aren't typically moved or traveled with. If your Mac is dropped frequently or exposed to liquid, it may experience problems due to shock, liquid damage or corrosion. Likewise if you keep your laptop plugged in all the time, battery capacity will degrade faster, and you won't get as much time between charges.
Should I install updates to macOS as soon as they become available?
Shovers Mac Os 11
Broadly speaking, there are two types of updates that Apple releases to macOS, maintenance updates, which are released about every month or two, and feature upgrades, which are released annually. In addition, small, 'Supplemental,' updates are occasionally released to address a specific issue in the operating system.
For maintenance and supplemental updates, the risk of introducing new bugs is relatively low, so as long as your data is backed up, installing them is generally safe and recommended. Feature upgrades, on the other hand, often introduce significant bugs, and thus I recommend reading thoroughly into the new features as well as any bugs other users are experiencing in order to make an informed decision on whether or not to upgrade. If you are unsure, it may be wise to wait until several maintenance updates have been released.
Whenever an update is released, no matter the scale, there should be an article posted to the AppleVis blog about it, which typically includes information about notable changes, bug fixes, and new bugs for blind and low vision users. It may also be helpful to read any comments about the update posted by fellow forum members, as everyone's use case is different, and it is simply impossible to know the precise effects of an update on a given use case.
If you decide to hold off on a feature upgrade, you can usually continue to install updates that Apple occasionally releases to address security flaws, which I definitely recommend. Typically, Apple will release updates to the latest major version of macOS, as well as the two prior versions.
Should I backup my data?
Absolutely! Like any computer or mobile device, there is a multitude of things that can go wrong in the course of using your Mac that can result in data loss.
As no backup solution is perfect, it is generally advised to employ more than one to form a comprehensive data protection strategy. In addition to iCloud, you can use other popular cloud services with your Mac, such as DropBox, Google Drive, 1Drive, and others. You can also use Time Machine, a backup utility built into macOS that makes a backup of your data every hour to a location of your choosing. For information on how to use Time Machine with VoiceOver, check out this guide.
Do Mac's get viruses and do I need antivirus software?
While it is true that more hackers have targeted Windows than macOS in the past due to the former's larger user base, the idea that Macs are immune to viruses and other malware wholesale is a myth.
Out of the box, macOS includes a number of protection features, such as not allowing newly installed apps to run if they haven't been verified as trusted, maintaining a list of known malware, and requiring user consent before apps can access sensitive information or restricted areas of the system. However, it is not uncommon for users to contract malware from web messages that claim that their computer is infected and in order to clear the infection, they must download something. A sufficiently clever social engineer may be able to persuade a user to override the default security restrictions of macOS, allowing the malware to execute.
While anti-malware products can be useful as another layer of security, and may provide more helpful information about specific threats, they are not a panacea for all security needs. While this field is constantly evolving, and thus it is difficult to make a general recommendation on one product over another, one that I have had good experiences with is MalwareBytes.
For more information on securing your Mac and protecting it from malware, check out this guide.
Conclusion and additional resources
Shovers Mac Os Catalina
Although this guide touches on numerous topics, there is a wealth of information on AppleVis and elsewhere. More information is available in your Mac's built-in help and the AppleVis forum, and below are a few links to some more potentially useful resources.
If you have any other suggestions or want something clarified, sound off in the comments.
I've been reading The Popes Children, by David McWilliams at the moment.
I'm not finished yet, but one paragraph got my attention this evening:
This can also be regarded at the consumer version of the old arms race. When the Soviets put a man into space, the Americans had to do likewise simply to be seen to be in the same race. Then the Americans put a man on the moon and the Russians responded by putting two. The Americans send a probe to Mars, arm themselves with thousands of warheads and explode a bomb in the Nevada desert. The Russians respond. Finally, Ronald Reagan adopts the Star-wars program and the Russians run out of money. So the American willie was bigger after all.
From: The Pope's Children, pp132, © David McWilliams 2005, 2006
Now, apart from the fact that McWilliams can't spell willy, he apparently believes that the Russians put two men on the moon. This makes me seriously doubt the quality of his research.
For some reason, for the the last few days I've been getting irritated by that stalwart of the Hong Kong office culture, Mr. Finger-on-the-close-button.
He (or occasionally she) is the one who's finger gravitates to the close-door button in the lift just after he's entered. Usually, this is when other people are still trying to enter the lift. In extreme cases, this can be when other people are still trying to leave the lift!
The door won't actually close on someone — there's a sensor which prevents that — but it'll partially close and open again, which restricts the access width and is pretty annoying when people and trying to get in (and out).
At the root of this behaviour are the same impulses which drive the Cross Platform Sprinters and the Train Door Shovers: Lack of consideration and Self Centeredness.
Recently there was a spate of whinging in the letters page of the SCMP about employing Native English Teachers (NETs) with 'regional' accents. These letters usually took the form of Home Counties Englishmen aghast that anyone could understand the garbled vowels and forced consonants of anyone from north of Watford, west of Reading, or south of Guildford. In their minds, a 'regional' NET was either Rab C. Nesbitt, Worzel Gummidge or Jimmy Nail.Or even worse, American! The Horror!
They feared that impressionable young minds exposed to such regional accents would end up speaking like Glaswegian dockworkers and be tragically unable to communicate with anyone. Well, anyone other than Jimmy Sommerville, or Billy Conolly, presumably.
As an Irishman, I'm naturally blessed with the most mellifluous of accents and it's only fitting and natural that my children should follow my lead in pronounciation. (In English only; learning my Cantonese pronounciation would do them no favours.) I've figured that having an actual native speaker of English at home would render them immune from the worst excesses of language education.
Imagine then my consternation, imaginary reader, when Number One Daughter wreaked havoc on the perpendicular pronoun!
'Look at the new boy, fulled wuth drid', she recited one evening.
Kiwis! Yat ho lui had been contaminated by kiwis, a dreadful disease where the 'i' and the 'u' are swapped around in the brain. Extreme cases can lead to a spastic jerking movement known as hakka, which unfortunately has nothing to do with the pleasant lady who cleans our building.
The government seems to be helpless in tackling the problem of the influx of mainland women coming to give birth in Hong Kong, overstretching our medical services and incurring bad debts for the Hospital Authority. I would therefore like to suggest some effective measures.
Out of respect for life, we cannot turn away mainlanders who really need to give birth here. However, the government should not allow these women to leave Hong Kong until they have settled their hospital bills. Since the Hospital Authority has a huge deficit, perhaps they could be forced to do chores, such as cleaning the floors. If they have no intention of paying, they should be jailed for several months - as a warning to other mainland women intent on abusing our medical services.
STEPHANIE YUEN, Mui Wo
Wow, put women who have just given birth into involuntary servitude or jail! This may be a new low for the SCMP letters page.
UPDATE: it reminds me a little of the following exchange (from Blackadder the Third):
Edmund: Well, according to `Who's Who', his interests include flogging servants, shooting poor people, and the extension of slavery to anyone who hasn't got a knighthood.
Prince George: Excellent! Sensible policies for a happier Britain!
So what can be done about this actually rather small problem? Deny residency to any child born here if neither of the parents are ordinarily resident or if the mother has clearly come to take advantage of getting residency for her child. It may not be easy to legislate, but insisting that some judicial review of the child's residency status is required if neither parent is ordinarily resident in Hong Kong or has a Hong Kong ID card should do it. That wouldn't interfere with most births, and would remove the reason that most of the mainland women who have their babies here do so.
The fact that there is a relatively small number of women who leave the SAR after giving birth without paying their bill is actually quite a small matter. The real issue is the growing number of youngsters on the China side who have Hong Kong residency and have the right to turn up and live off welfare payments/get public housing. Our welfare handout is small for a Hong Konger, but for a mainland Chinese it's a pretty substantial amount. (CSSA Standard Rates)
Here's a nice graphical resumé for a web designer type: Jon Jensen's Resumé. I'm not sure I'd like to show overlapping full time positions on *my* resumé though!
Via Eric Meyer's Distractions.
Today's discovery: Palin's Travels, the books and travels of Michael Palin.
From the unlinkable SCMP comes this gem on Saturday's letters page:
It is a rare day when news from the scientific world brings joy to the masses, but Wednesday was one such day. Your story 'Deal sealed to build experimental reactor to harness nuclear fusion' (November 22) reported that seven of the world's leading nations plan to invest the equivalent of HK$99 billion to build a reactor which might provide 'as much energy from a litre of seawater as from a litre of petrol or a kilo of coal'.
Four hundred scientists will kick-start the project and, if successful, 'fusion technology will be rolled out across the world'.
That really is great news - practical fusion is something we as the human race should have developed back in the 1950's, just after the development of the H-Bomb (which uses much of the same principles).
The words of the old song Happy days are here again; The skies above are clear again shall, thankfully, sound a swansong for all scaremongering, doom-saying, tree-hugging environmentalists. No more shall they command time and space in our newspapers, magazines and cinemas and on our televisions. Their end is nigh.
Science will give us the freedom to enjoy all the fruits of our labours, including free rein to buy gas-guzzling 4x4s without guilt. The greenies can take comfort in cultivating - and selling the produce from - their vegetable patches on Lamma and Lantau (organic, naturally).
So here we have the knee-jerk reaction of the right-winger. Now that there is cheap electricity, apparently we can go on using fossil fuels as though they were infinite. We can ignore the damage to our environment and let Northern Europe have a climate like Siberia. Glaciers as far south as Kansas City? Apparently OK with J. Charleston.
The claims of the green movement that excessive production of greenhouse gasses and over use of fossil fuels are destructive to the planet are not based on some jealousy or luddite tendencies, but on the fact that these activities are destroying our planet. The well funded (by oil companies!) movement to decry these facts is suicidal and will lead to horrendous environmental disasters. The lockstep in which right-wingers march in complete agreement with these corporations is nothing more that the brainless adulation of aspiring fascists. They are as nothing to those whose jackboots they sniff after.
The reality is that Practical Fusion implies cheap electricity which implies a revival of the GM Electric Car (). Rapidly rising Oil costs imply the death of the infernal combustion engine. Rapidly decreasing electricity costs lead to a rise in public transport and electric vehicles. How's about all power for Hong Kong transport comes from a small fusion station on Lamma? All taxis are electric. No more diesel, no more coal based power. Clean skies on days when the wind isn't coming from the north..
Cheap power will allow us to maintain our lifestyles while reducing our output of greenhouse gases and our reliance on fossil fuels. This will mean that the climate of northern Eurpone won't become another Siberia as the Gulf Stream stops, the fish stocks in the world's oceans will halt and eventually reverse their current decline, and places like Australia might be viable to live in for another few years. I, for one, would miss the Great Barrier Reef, the Jungles of Indonesia and the low lying islands of Polynesia, even though I have never been to any of these. I would like to visit them someday, and I would like that my children, and their children, would also have that choice.
It will also allow countries like the US to cease relying on the Middle East for their energy, which will decrease the overall terrorist threat. Indeed, countries which are currently sources of terrorists, like Saudi Arabia — home of Osama Bin Laden and 15 of the 19 9/11 terrorists — will be plunged into long needed revolution as the value of their fossil fuel resources diminish. (Always assuming that we can find a way to make cheap plastics, of course.) The oil curse, where nations with oil and few other resources turn into fascist dictatorships in pursuit of the almighty dollar, should be a thing of the past.
The irony is that, for a fraction of the cost of the war in Iraq, the world could have been nearly four years down this road already. If only the President of the USA wasn't completely beholden to oil companies..
J. CHARLESTON, Tai Hang
Twit.
You can tell it's winter in Hong Kong because, as the temperature drops below 25 °c, all the woolly hats, scarves and overcoats get dragged out and people start to appear as if they'd just stepped off the piste.
We're not quite a the North Face jackets yet, but they journey into work this morning was a bit bizarre for the numbers of jackets and scarves on display while I'm still in shirt-sleeves thinking that's it's pleasantly cool.
Oops!, my RSS feed was broken. The link was pointing to an old feed. The new one should be correct in the side bar ad here: RSS Feed.
Thanks to Spike for the heads-up.
TVB's Money Magazine just had the most uncritical piece on unsolicited electronic messaging I've seen since the last time I listened to a spammer.
There was some token mentioning of how excessive spam can cause a waste of time and loss of messages, but the entire body of the piece was from the point of view of the direct marketers, claiming that any legislation on unsolicited commercial messaging would affect their businesses and how people really want to be sold to at home anyway. And one gem: 'Some people want to receive offers about holidays'.
Yes, legislation and do-not-call lists will have a negative impact on telemarketers, spammers, robotic telephone calls and other intrusive selling practices. That's the whole point! That business model is intrusive and invasive and nobody wants it.
No, 'opt out' is not a good model for unsolicited commercial emails, because the damage to the recipient is multiplied: First, she gets the spam, then she has to jump though the unsubscribe hoops, causing at least one more email to be sent. (And, incidentally, confirming to the spammer that a real live person reads that email address, so the spammer will then be able to sell a list of confirmed active addresses to another spammer, thus increasing our hapless victim's spam load.)
(*Never* click on the unsubscribe option on a spam. All it does is confirm your address. Just delete it. I used to recommend reporting them, but the few ISPs who still allow spammers are little more than criminal scum these days, and will happily pass your details on to the spammer.)
'Opt In' is where someone elects to receive commercial emails. If you're on a mailing list,or you've subscribed to updates from websites, you'll be familiar with this. It's the only proper and ethical way to do email marketing: compile a list of people who are interested in your product, and who have said they wish to receive information about it. It's also more efficient marketing as it's going to be far easier to sell to someone like that than to someone who's not interested in your stuff.
Spam is theft. Theft of time, theft of resources and theft of goodwill.
Theft of time: the recipient must spend time to delete or report spam mails received.
Theft of resources: the emails or calls use bandwidth on the network and take up disk space as well and incurring extra computer resources to process. For automated phone calls, they can come to you when you're overseas and you get hit with roaming charges for unwanted calls. (When I'm in Australia, my phone bill doubles mainly due to automatic calls like that.)
Theft of goodwill. After having your inbox flooded with offers for pump'n'dump stocks, rolex watches and pharmaceuticals (viagra, cialis, etc), are you going to consider actual buying one?
Spam is theft, spammers are thieves.
On Saturday, November 11, the Star Ferry sailed for the last time from Tsim Sha Tsui to Edinburgh Place. The Central terminus has now been moved to the new Ferry Pier Complex, about ten minutes walk away.
The new Central pier is a garish and charmless monstrosity, too far away to attract the amount of casual traffic that the old one did, and too exposed to be comfortable in the summer time.
The old pier (and Queen's Pier, next to it) are being landlocked as part of the process of reclaiming even more of Victoria Harbour to build the Central and Wanchai Bypass, so the 15% of total trips in the average day which don't use Public Transport can be subsidised even more by our tax-dollars. Not to mention destroying whatever is left of the harbour.
Dave Horrigan's Mac Facts (subscription required) Columns in the SCMP is usually an OK read but today:
The first thing I check on a buggy Mac is whether the hard disk or database are full. The hard disk should have at least 10 per cent free space. Fifteen per cent is better. Like any Unix-type OS, once it's almost full, it will corrupt files. The cure is to remove unwanted files or put in a larger hard drive.
I won't disagree that a bigger hard drive can be necessary, but saying that all Unices will start to corrupt your data when nearly full is complete rubbish. I've been using Linux and other Unices since 1999, and that's something I've never seen happen.
This article: http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html#Anchor-31774 deals with the subject of keeping your Mac in tip-top condition and seems more informative.
The latest version of Open Office is pretty good - it can handle some pretty hairy Excel spreadsheets and can even print directly to PDF, a very useful feature.
But, there are still some show stopping problems with it.
- It uses semicolons instead of commas in formulae? What?!
- It requires the '=' sign to start a formula instead of '+' like Excel.
Look, if you want people to change from the market leading spreadsheet product (and undoubtedly Microsoft's best software product), you can't do it by changing all of the finger macros that real spreadsheet geeks (like me) have developed from using Excel for years. Thirteen years or so, in my case.
If I can't sit down and make a simple spreadsheet with some VLOOKUPs and COUNTIFs on absolute row or column ranges without having to scour through the online help, I'm simply not going to change.
Oh, and make the macro language something modern like perl or python. Or better yet, provide an API so that any language can be used.
I came across the following dialog box at work today:
(click image for a larger version.)
So where's the OK or Cancel buttons? Gaah!
I was out earlier on and noticed a group of Indonesian Domestic Helpers that seemed to comprise all of the types of the young lassies that you see out and about every day here.
There was the ordinary DH, in jeans and t-shirt, looking just as her Filipina colleagues would. (Although they'd rant on about her being a Muslim..)
There was the devout one, wearing the hijab to protect her modesty by covering her hair.
The third member of the group was the butch, possibly a lesbian,probably just prefers to have short hair and not get hit on by predatory Pakistanis all the time.
Finally, there was the party-girl. Wearing skin tight jeans and a top apparently made of string, and not a lot of string either, clearly out for a good time.
Out and about earlier on, I spotted these cosplayers in Hong Kong Park.
My son was amused by them: he even identified the show they were playing, but he only knows the Chinese name, not the English or Japanese name.
Cosplay is a fancy word for dressing up and pretending to be characters from a TV show.
My son, all of four years old, playing KDE games on an old laptop running Linux.
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Today's random thought.
American Documentaries about esoteric subjects try to engage the average guy by disguising the whole thing in sports metaphors (10 most poisonous spiders, 20 most carnivorous sheep, etc). BBC documentaries are not afraid to show boffins (geeks) being excited about things which appear to be as dull as ditchwater and then they explain just why these are exciting.
This leads, in my opinion, to a better class of presenter from the BBC. They must know their subject, and preferably be a boffin themselves. They should be passionate about their subject and expect the viewers to pay attention. This leads to a higher class of documentary, where the presenter clearly expects you to care about what he's saying and to take pleasure in the wonder of what he's showing you. (c.f. David Attenborough in, well, anything, but The Blue Planet, plus just about everything he's ever made, springs to mind. Also see: Carl Sagan.)
When it's reduced to '10 fastest/weirdest/most orthogonal', it becomes a soundbite show, treating the viewer like an idiot with a short attention span.
Neil Gaiman on Hallowe'en:
Fear is a wonderful thing, in small doses. You ride the ghost train into the darkness, knowing that eventually the doors will open and you will step out into the daylight once again. It's always reassuring to know that you're still here, still safe. That nothing strange has happened, not really. It's good to be a child again, for a little while, and to fear — not governments, not regulations, not infidelities or accountants or distant wars, but ghosts and such things that don't exist, and even if they do, can do nothing to hurt us.
Via: The Sideshow.
Why it's called the Bible Belt..
(Via The Sideshow.)
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